The Judgements of a Good Man
by Survivingsunrise
Summary: When Chelsea begins her life on the Island, Vaughn decides instantly that he doesn't like her. As if an estranged brother and a family betrayal wasn't enough, now the only woman Vaughn truly trusts has decided to take Chelsea under her wing and demands that Vaughn do the same. Vaughn isn't a jealous man, is a mysterious rancher with a shady past enough to change that?
1. Home

a/n _I'm back! Ok so nobody knows who I am because this story only got like 10 reads the first time I put it up- but whatever, I'm excited to be back writing fanfiction. I first published the first couple of chapters of this fic 2 years ago or so, then forgot the password to my account /facepalm/ so if you've already seen this fic before that's why. I started writing this a couple of years ago and gave up and it, and came back to it later, that's why there are some differences (e.g the way I change from quotation marks to speech marks half way though, whoops!) Anyway, hope you enjoy the story! :)_

* * *

While it may be true that Vaughn was not the best at communicating his feelings, he had a lot of feelings. People who didn't know him thought of him as intimidating and emotionless, his two days a week boss, Mirabelle, thought of him as misunderstood. But of course, all that really matters is what he thought of himself.

To himself: he was an animal lover, a hopeless romantic, and even a world famous rock star when it was 5am and he was taking his morning shower.

Vaughn never really cared much about what other people thought of him. Sure, he cared about what his mother must have thought of him when he was suspended from school for fighting. He cared about what his brother must have thought of him when he told him he hated him for moving to the countryside. But in the grand scheme of things, did it honestly matter? How was he supposed to live a happy, fulfilled life if his every decision was made so other people would judge him as what they perceived to be a 'good' man? Vaughn knew that he had qualities that were both good and bad, but despite all his bad qualities, he judged that he was a good man.

Fair enough, he was Judgemental, impatient and oblivious to other people's emotions. He was also passionate, determined and sometimes, selfless: only sometimes though.

For being somebody who hated judgement- he sure was judgemental. _Hypocritical_ he thought, he could add that one to the list.

Vaughn wasn't too upset about the fact his good qualities were often outshone by his bad ones. In fact, he was pleased. He just didn't particularly like people, if people tried to socialize with him, his instant reaction was rudeness; and he wasn't a boy anymore so rudeness was not excusable.

He tapped his heel against the wooden deck of the boat waiting for the journey to the island his job required him to visit two days a week to finish. As the clean country breeze filled his lungs, he smiled in content, happy to be free of the factories and smog that plagued the world he was used to. Coming to the island every week was bittersweet. Bitter because the island was so darn small, he couldn't possibly get a second alone and sweet because no matter how alone he was, he longed for the fresh air and the feeling of joy only animals could bring him.

On the horizon, he saw his destination. He picked up his bag and mentally prepared himself for the hug that Mirabelle was sure to smother him with when he arrived. Mirabelle was the only person who was consistently nice to Vaughn; he had sworn to himself that he would never let her past his cold glare but she had persisted and eventually he had relented and told her all about his many struggles and troubles over several cups of tea on a late night.

She had listened, that was the thing that had really surprised Vaughn. Unlike his own mother, Mirabelle had listened to him and she had given him advice and she had laughed at his painfully un-funny jokes to make him feel good. She, in return to his admissions, had told him all about her struggles and troubles too.

When he saw her smiling face beaming at him from the beach, he just couldn't help but smile back at her.

As soon as his tired feet finally hit the sand, Mirabelle swept him up in a hug.

'Oh, I swear you've gotten taller since I last saw you. Have you gotten taller since then?' Mirabelle asked in a rush

'It was only last week; you act as if I've been gone for months' Vaughn replied, teasingly

Vaughn heard a quiet giggle come from behind Mirabelle and froze. The only person it could have been was Mirabelle's daughter, Julia; but Julia should have been working in Mirabelle's pet store today.

He looked behind Mirabelle, and found a girl he'd never seen before looking at him. He froze embarrassed at the fact this stranger had just witnessed his open affection for his boss.

 _No, let her think what she wants. She can only judge me if I let her_ He thought to himself, straightening himself up

He fixed his usual glare on his face and started straight back at the girl. Red coloured her previously pale face and she stared intently at the ground, intimidated.

Her appearance seemed straight out of a teen fiction novel. Almost pure-white skin, almost blonde hair and eyes you could almost get lost in; if they were the only eyes around. Everything about her was just 'almost'. If her life really was a teen fiction novel, this would be the part of the story where they gazed into each other's eyes and sailed off into the sunset.

Sadly, this was not her teen fiction. This was Vaughn's life.

Vaughn wasn't interested in 'almost' Vaughn was interested in 'perfect', but then again, he thought bitterly to himself, who was he to judge?

'Vaughn' Mirabelle hissed quietly

His full attention turned back to Mirabelle and he realized he was being rude again. He begrudgingly dropped the glare.

'This is Chelsea' Mirabelle said, raising her voice slightly so the girl- Chelsea could hear 'She's the island's new rancher'

Chelsea, nodded to Vaughn nervously

'Hello' she said

'Vaughn' He said to her, sticking his hand out so she could shake it

'Chelsea' she replied, nervously accepting Vaughn's handshake

Vaughn had to resist reminding her that he already knew her name as Mirabelle had just introduced her; so he just nodded in response.

'Talkative bunch you two are' Mirabelle chuckled

Chelsea chuckled out of politeness, it was clear to Vaughn that she was uncomfortable meeting new people, or it may have just been the fact that he had glared her after no more than 5 seconds of learning of her existence when she hadn't really done anything to offend him.

Vaughn begrudgingly gave her a tight lipped smile that indicated he didn't really care for her company so far. To be fair though, he rarely cared for anybody's company.

Mirabelle turned to Vaughn

'Let's get home' she said warmly

Vaughn almost smiled at the way Mirabelle refused to refer to her home as 'My house' when speaking to Vaughn. It was only ever 'home' like it was his home as well. Mirabelle and Julia were the first people to ever make Vaughn feel like he had belonged somewhere. Never once had he felt remotely 'at home' growing up under his mother's roof. His city apartment didn't even feel like a home to him; just somewhere he ate and slept sometimes.

Mirabelle now turned to Chelsea

'You're welcome to join us too, Chelsea' Mirabelle said warmly to the rancher

Chelsea's eyes widened. She looked at Vaughn, then back to Mirabelle as if to say 'are you sure he'll be okay with that?'

Vaughn, having had enough of feeling like the newest antagonist in Chelsea's teen fiction life, picked up his bag and began walking back to Mirabelle's pet store.

Home.


	2. Pie for Four

'TACKLE HUG!' Julia screeched, as soon as Vaughn walked through the door.

Vaughn swiftly moved out of the way, leaving Julia to run into the wall.

Julia peeled herself off of the wall and glared at him, and then her usual playful smile was back.

'I've missed you' Julia began 'Don't tell anyone though, I wouldn't want anyone to think I don't dislike you'

'I wouldn't have it any other way' Vaughn said, smirking

'Wow, you're awfully chatty today. Is that the longest sentence you've said all day?' Julia teased

'That's the only sentence I've said all day'

'Ha! Not it's not, you just said a sentence' shouted Julia, sticking her tongue out in childish triumph

The door opened, in walked Mirabelle and Chelsea.

Chelsea's eyes went to Vaughn, then Julia, then down to the floor.

Mirabelle put a comforting arm around Chelsea's shoulder and smiled at her reassuringly. She whispered something in Chelsea's ear which made the shy rancher giggle. Vaughn hated the fact that he was curiously wondering what Mirabelle had said to ease the girl's nervousness.

'What are we having for dinner?' Julia asked her mother

'There's still some of last night's pie left over' Mirabelle pointed out

'Great!' Julia clapped her hands 'Everybody sit down at the table, there's a reheated vegetable pie with our names on it!'

An hour later, Chelsea was chatting to Julia like she had known her for her whole life. Vaughn knew this because their chatter was all he could hear from his bedroom. The sound of the girls' chattering brought a welcome distraction from Vaughn's thoughts; his mind was relaying memories of his brother, Skye, over and over and over. No matter how much he told his brain to shut up or focus on something else- his thoughts always went back to his memories of his brother.

'I guess I'll be heading home then' he heard Chelsea say from the next room

Although the chatter helped block out his thoughts, he was pleased that Chelsea was leaving; there was something he just didn't like about that girl.

Vaughn left his bedroom and walked out into the front room to find Mirabelle reading some book about embroidery.

'Oh, Vaughn honey' She said, in a tone like she wanted to ask him for a favour 'Can I ask a favour of you?'

Darn it.

Still it was Mirabelle, he couldn't turn her down.

'What is it?' He questioned

'Chelsea's central heating isn't working properly, you know how old that rickety old farm house is'

Okay, maybe he could turn Mirabelle down.

'I just hate the idea of Chelsea feeling cold' Mirabelle frowned

Vaughn silently cursed Mirabelle's maternal nature.

Mirabelle turned to him 'Come on Vaughn' she began 'she's just moved here all on her own, it's pretty daunting for her. I just want her to know we're here for her if she needs us'

Vaughn realised with a guilty frown that Mirabelle was right.

'Just like me and Jules were here for you when you first needed us…' she added, hopefully

'Fine' he sighed, realising she was right 'I'll go over there and take a look at it first thing tomorrow morning'

'But it gets cold here at night'

Vaughn raised one eyebrow at her; Mirabelle gave him exactly the same look back.

Vaughn realised that he had already lost this fight and grabbed his coat from the coat rack. When he looked back at Mirabelle, she had a very smug look on her face.


	3. The Almost-Home

Vaughn wrapped his black coat further around him as the cold air bit at him. Okay, maybe Chelsea did deserve heating after all, if he didn't get frostbite on the journey up to her farmhouse that is. And if he did die some kind of cold-related death tonight, he had better be going to heaven or he'd make sure to haunt Chelsea.

Mirabelle was right, Vaughn noted, about how run-down the place was. He was surprised the shack hadn't fallen down yet. Not that he was feeling worried of course; he had only just met the girl.

When he finally reached Chelsea's house, he knocked sternly on the door, but not too sternly, as there was still the looming threat of the place collapsing. After a few seconds, the door opened to reveal Chelsea, concealed in a vast array of thick, colourful blankets. When she saw Vaughn standing there: she looked like a deer caught in headlights. He almost smirked how intimidated she looked.

"Mirabelle sent me to fix your heating" He explained, blankly.

"O-Oh" Chelsea stammered "it's fine, I mean, I should be able to, to uh, figure it out… it's not even that cold." she lied nervously.

Vaughn just sighed at her.

"You gonna let me in or not?" He asked disinterestedly.

Chelsea smiled at him shyly. "Thank you, come in." She said appreciatively, head bowed, possibly in intimidation, or gratitude- most likely both.

Chelsea's house was very bare, Vaughn noted as he stepped through the front door. He then reminded himself that he should have expected that as she had only just moved in, and after all, she was just an 'almost' girl. All she had was a bed, a bookcase and a small kitchen area.

Chelsea showed him to where her central heating unit was. "Would you like anything to drink? Possibly, A cup of tea…maybe?" Chelsea asked, anxiously.

"Sure." he responded, quietly.

"How do you like your tea?" She asked, moving into the kitchen area.

"Black, no sugar." He stated, bluntly.

"Okie dokie." she said, shyly. Vaughn had never wondered if it was possible for one to say 'okie dokie' shyly, but he supposed he didn't really have to now.

With an inaudible groan, Vaughn knelt down and took a look at the heating unit. One look told him that he actually had no idea about how central heating worked. He could hear Chelsea whistling contentedly from the kitchen. Despite its bareness, the shack was homely. With a pang of jealousy, he noted that there were family pictures hung all over the walls; he didn't have any family pictures. Scratching his head, he came to the conclusion that poking around with gas without having a clue of what he was doing was probably not a good idea. He slowly stood up and brushed the dirt off of his knees.

Vaughn glanced upwards and saw a something he hadn't noticed before; a photo above him on the wall. He froze. In the picture was a girl, unmistakeably Chelsea but a few years' younger, same hair, same eyes, same _sameness_. It was the boy standing next to her that was the cause of his distress.

Chelsea walked over with him and presented him with his mug of tea, he ignored her and carried on staring pointedly at the photo.

"How do you know him?" He asked, sternly.

Chelsea was stunned at the man's boldness. She straightened herself up again, tired of letting him intimidate her.

"What's it to you?" she asked with an uncharacteristic defiance.

Vaughn leaned down so he was eye level with her and glared at her venomously

"That's my brother." He hissed. Chelsea looked at him confusedly.

"Oh" she began, unsure of where she was taking the sentence, suddenly regretting her defiance "So you're Skye's brother, huh? It was ridiculous of me not to realise that sooner, I mean, how many people have that hair colo-"

"Forget about it."

"But…"

"I know nothing about gas or heating," He said, cutting her off "but I do know Mirabelle would skin me alive if I didn't invite you to stay back to her place."

Chelsea put the disregarded mugs of tea on her coffee table. "Huh?" she asked puzzled at Vaughn's sharp change in character. But she was talking to herself- Vaughn was already half way out the door.

"You coming or not?" he asked from the doorway, not turning back to face her.

"J-just let me grab a change of clothes!"

* * *

 _a/n: anyone play harvest moon ds cute? Skye is a character in that, and a pretty darn cute one may I add._


	4. Cold Front

To Chelsea, walking into the pet store must have been like walking into a sauna. Her body instantly heated up.

"Oh my goodness, Chelsea- you're frozen solid!" Mirabelle cried as the rancher walked through the door. Mirabelle flung her arms around the girl and engulfed her in a hug which sent Chelsea stumbling back a few paces.

Julia couldn't help but smirk at Chelsea's awkwardness and her mother's over-bearing nature.

"Oh, dear, you're so cold let me get you something hot to drink how about a nice cup of hot cocoa?" Mirabelle said, all at once.

Chelsea blushed a shade of red similar to the bandanna that covered her head.

"Mum, you're making her feel uncomfortable" Julia noted humorously.

This just made Chelsea's blush worse, until she got used to Mirabelle she was going to be spending a lot of time blushing.

"What she really needs is a nice hot shower" Julia said, placing her arm around Chelsea's shoulder "I bet you're hot water isn't working yet, huh?"

"Uh" Chelsea began.

"Great!" Julia exclaimed before Chelsea could interject, pushing the girl into the bathroom.

Vaughn just rolled his eyes from where he stood, leaning against the doorway.

Mirabelle shook her head once the two girls were out of the room "You know, Taro promised her that that house was liveable! Maybe in the summer not having heating would be okay, but in winter. It's disgusting" she grumbled in irritation "That man would say anything to get labour done"

Vaughn rolled his eyes. He said his next words without thinking about them "She'll be fine. Especially with your hospitality" He said bitterly, he regretted saying the words as soon as they came out of his mouth. Fortunately, Mirabelle didn't seem to notice.

"Yeah, I hope I'm not being too overbearing" She fretted "Will you tell me if I'm making her feel uncomfortable?" Mirabelle asked

Vaughn was taken aback by this "Me… why?" He asked, puzzled, he wasn't exactly best friends with the girl.

"Well, I was pretty overbearing with you" Mirabelle admitted "But the difference between you and Chelsea is that if I annoyed you, you'd tell me. If I annoyed Chelsea, she'd keep quiet about it. So, if you think I'm making her feel uncomfortable- tell me. Please?"

"Alright" Vaughn agreed. He wouldn't actually do it of course- he was only saying it to make her feel better.

"You know, she's around the same age you were when you first came to the island. "She's also had a …let's say _troubled_ past like yourself" Mirabelle disclosed.

"If she's the same age I was when I first came here then she hasn't _had_ a troubled past, she's _living_ a troubled present _"_ He replied instantly.

"Hmm" was Mirabelle's reply.

Vaughn toyed with the idea of confiding in Mirabelle for a moment. He cleared his throat and sighed "She's friends with Skye"

Mirabelle's eyes widened and suddenly the room felt a lot colder to the both of them "Your brother, Skye?"

He raised his eyebrows "How many people called Skye do you think I know?" He asked sarcastically. "bad Company makes bad people"

Mirabelle sighed "Not all the time" She said quietly, gesturing at Vaughn. Vaughn's temper rose.

"What's that supposed to mean?" He demanded.

Mirabelle raised her hands to show she didn't mean any offence "I just meant that you turned out all right"

"I chose to leave my family-"

"You can't choose your friends" Mirabelle proclaimed.

"What? Of course you can. You can't choose your _family_ " Vaughn said.

Mirabelle raised an eyebrow at him, she always did that when she was about to say something he wouldn't like "You chose us as family, yet you always criticise how immature Denny is but he's still your best friend"

Vaughn's first reaction was to tell Mirabelle that she as wrong. Upon thinking more about it, he realised that she was completely right. He'd never admit it though.

Chelsea came out of the bathroom exactly seven minutes after she had entered it. Julia had gone out to the house of the local fisherman, Denny, to celebrate his birthday in a not-so-civilized manner at his not-so-civilized party. Despite being close friends Vaughn rarely attended Denny's parties, Denny was always trying to get him to go out and socialise but Vaughn usually resisted.

Mirabelle had left only a few seconds earlier saying she 'had to go and talk to Gannon about something'. Gannon was the local carpenter. Vaughn knew, of course, that this was just an excuse to leave himself and the rancher alone so they could 'bond'.

Chelsea stood by the doorframe, not sure of what to do and Vaughn realised that for the first time in a while, he also was not sure of what to do.

"Well don't look at me for guidance" He commanded, sharply "sit down"

It took him a few seconds to realise that he had just given Chelsea guidance after telling her not to ask him for guidance, he almost grimaced at how absent minded this island made him. Chelsea nodded nervously and took the seat furthest away from Vaughn on the couch.

After a few seconds of awkward silence, Vaughn was surprised that Chelsea was the first one to speak.

"So, you're Skye's brother?" She asked, curiously. Just the reminder of the existence of his brother made Vaughn's blood run cold. When Chelsea was sure Vaughn wasn't going to reply, she spoke again. "We've been best friends since... well, since I first moved to Forget-me-not Valley" she said, distantly, like she was remembering it

Vaughn didn't really want to say more than he had to, but against his better judgement...

Vaughn sent her an accusatory glance. "And you know he bases his entire lifestyle on other people's misery?"

"I know he's a petty thief." Chelsea smiled sheepishly "He's not perfect"

"Not perfect?" Vaughn laughed, humorlessly "That boy is the furthest from perfect you could get". He had realised, bitterly, that Chelsea seemed surprised at the fact Skye had a brother, which would indicate that Skye had never spoken of him.

 _I don't care_ he reminded himself

"He's not a good guy" Vaughn declared

"I know it's not my place to ask what happened between you guys, so I won't" Chelsea began "But there was a little kid in our village: Todd. Skye used to really look after him; it always seemed to me like he missed somebody he used to care for"

"You're right" Vaughn declared "It's not your place, and it's none of your damn business" He said sharply. He stood up from the sofa and walked towards his bedroom and slammed the door.


	5. My Dining Wish

_a/n I mentioned this in chapter 3 but I updated it a few days after it went up, so I don't think anyone who read the chapter in the first few days it went up saw it. Just in case anyone hasn't played Harvest Moon DS Cute, Skye (Aka Vaughn's brother in this fic) is a character in that. I just wanted to mention that in case anyone was confused- anyway, hope you like the chapter! :)_

* * *

He sat in the diner, staring into his porridge as Chelsea sat opposite him, biting her thumbnail and trying to think of something to say.

When Vaughn went to breakfast that morning, he was not too happy to see Chelsea sitting round the table eating breakfast with Mirabelle and Julia like she was part of their family. Vaughn was sure he was not jealous, because he did not believe in jealousy.

Vaughn decided not to spend breakfast with the girls'; instead, he opted to go out to the diner for the morning meal.

In his haste to leave the house he had forgotten his hat, he had decided that it was too late to go back to retrieve it by the time he had realised he had forgotten it. Nobody on the island really noticed Vaughn so he managed to get to the diner without anybody taking a particular interest in him; this was something he liked about the island. Nobody paid attention to the quiet ones. Nobody ever seemed to care about you unless you were perky or outgoing or cute. The feeling of wind on his head made Vaughn shudder slightly, it was a feeling he was not used to and frankly, it made him feel quite uncomfortable.

During the walk to the diner, he had briefly let his thoughts drift towards his brother. How his brother had laughed at his jokes and taught him comebacks to use when people teased him and comforted him when the bullying all got a bit too much. They used to sneak food out from the kitchen when their mother was having business meetings and stay up all night watching videos of silly cats doing silly things all night.

Vaughn didn't like to dwell on those memories anymore. Skye had given Vaughn the sense of belonging and security he had craved and then taken it away from him as quickly as you could say 'I will never admit to watching silly videos of silly cats'

Vaughn had entered the diner with his head down and taken his usual seat. He had ordered his usual meal of porridge and waited the usual amount of time. One thing unusual about this morning, was the addition of Chelsea, who had wandered into the diner looking like a lost puppy and sat down at his table at the same time as his meal had arrived, immediately launching into a long apology.

"So like I said, I'm really sorry," She explained "Can we start again?"

 _I didn't know we'd even started at all_ he thought

He just grunted in response

"Is that a yes?" Chelsea asked, hopefully

"Sure" he muttered

He wasn't looking at Chelsea, but he was sure she was smiling like she'd just made a new friend

"Great!" She exclaimed "So we're friends now?" She asked, hopefully

"Don't push it."

Chelsea's beam faltered slightly, she still remained happy though.

"Okay," she said, shyly "I won't be taking up any more space at Mirabelle's, apparently Gannon's pretty handy with heating so he's at my place now fixing everything up." she added,

When Vaughn said nothing, she continued "I'm really sorry to have imposed, but uh, I'll have my heating fixed soon... Hopefully…" She trailed off, scratching the back of her head.

"It's not my house' Vaughn declared, shrugging "I'm leaving today anyway" he dug his spoon into his meal and observed the steam rising out of it before lifting it to his mouth, being acutely aware of Chelsea's gaze on him.

Chelsea looked startled "You're leaving?" Chelsea began before stopping herself "Ah, what am I doing? It's none of my businesses." she noted. The two were silent for a moment before Chelsea spoke again. "I hope it's not to get away from me,"she joked "It seems like we're not getting along that well so far." she admitted sheepishly, happy to be getting somewhere with him finally.

"Don't worry, you don't matter that much."

* * *

Chelsea was lying in bed replaying the day's events in her mind. She felt terrible about Vaughn's situation, even though she barely knew him she knew what having issues with your family was like.

She slipped into an uneasy flashback from her past.

 _Chelsea was running so hard she was panting, her breath was struggling to keep up with her. She just needed to get as far away as she could as quickly as possible. After yet another argument with her parents she was on her way to The Goddess Pond, her one refuge. The pond was filled with people during the day but it was all hers during the night, it was the only place she could get any time to herself to think without her parents imposing on her._

 _She found herself stunned as she reached her destination and realised that she wasn't alone, the other person at the pond turned to look at her and gave her a smile smile. She was shocked she didn't recognise him, everyone in the Valley knew everyone- it wasn't like there was that many people._

 _She was sure she'd remember him if she'd ever seen him before- he had bright silver hair and was wearing a bold leopard print shirt with bright purple trousers, clearly he had a lot of confidence- more than her._

 _She sat down opposite him silently, keeping her head down as to not disturb him._

 _"You look like you need a friend." He noticed, Chelsea jumped a little out of surprise not expecting him to start talking to her._

 _She shrugged, not really wanting to start a conversation. He stood up and just as she thought he was going to walk away, he perched himself next to her._

 _He held out a hand for her to shake "Skye," He introduced himself. She shook his hand gently and introduced herself to him._

 _"What are you doing out here this late at night?"_

 _Chelsea drew her knees into her body and rested her head on them "Just thinking." She wanted the conversation to end as soon as possible._

 _"I'm hiding." He admitted with a playful smirk._

 _Chelsea furrowed her eyebrows "From who?"_

 _"Depends." He answered curtly, "Are you going to tell the rest of the villagers that you've seen me tonight? If so then I'm hiding from you."_

 _"Who are you?"_

 _"I told you I'm Phantom Skye- master thief."_

 _"That just confuses me even more." she admitted._

 _"Good." He smiled and pulled a bar of chocolate out of his pocket and held it out for her to take. "You look like you need this a lot more than I do right now."_


	6. Gravel

He heard the city before he saw it. The sounds of traffic rushing by, people shouting at each other from building to building. He didn't miss the city. It was where he was born but not where he had grown, where he had lived but not where he had been alive. He as truly at home in the country side, he had often thought about living in the country side, but where would he go? The only people he knew were Mirabelle and Julia and he couldn't possibly impose on them any more. He already stayed with them for two days a week, that was enough. In his mind, they were as polite to him as they could be because they needed to work with him, but they wouldn't really want to have him with them if they didn't have to. They just put up with him.

He couldn't help but feel like a burden on them.

He stepped off the boat and was instantly greeted by the thick fog covering the whole city. He pulled his hat down across his face and quickly made his way through town, not stopping to greet anyone on the way.

When he finally made his way to his apartment in the city the first thing he did was kick his shoes off and collapse into the sofa. It had been a long day for him, the boat back had been delayed so he had had to wait around on the island for a little longer than planned. Vaughn hated straying from phis schedule, he was very stringent about following plans.

While he had been stuck on the island, of course, Chelsea had felt the need to come and make conversation with him to say goodbye and, once again, apologise. It had surprised him, he didn't imagine her initiating conversation with him first.

She was unlike anyone he'd ever met, she was so naive sometimes it irritated him, yet he still felt a vague sense of guilt for being so cold towards her.

He didn't understand why she kept talking to him, trying to be friends. Vaughn wasn't good at having friends. Vaughn didn't even know how to talk to people, he didn't even know how to talk to his parents.

Vaughn and Skye had a complicated relationship with their parents. Their parents had spent their children's childhood trying to force them into decisions they didn't want to make. Both parents worked high-pressure city jobs and had little time for their sons, the brothers had gotten used to only having each other for company.

Vaughn's brother had always been the more talkative of the pair, he had the perfect charming and easy-going nature that people made people respect his presence. He had always stuck up for Vaughn when kids had tried to tease him or bully him, constantly telling him to stand up for himself and have more confidence.

Then he left.

One winter evening Vaughn had come home to find a note on his bed- he wasn't even worth a proper goodbye. Instantly, Vaughn made the decision to leave the family home too- away from his distant parents who had taught him to look after himself.

This his how Vaughn had found himself being trapped in an office job in the city he grew up in, his only salvation being the two days a week he spent in the country. Vaughn and Skye's parents had always been cold and distant, Vaughn's brother had been the only person he could confide in, his only friend.

After Skye left, Vaughn felt abandoned and betrayed, left alone to fight the world without having his partner in crime by his side. He had learnt to resent his older brother after he realised he wasn't coming back. He didn't know why he felt an obligation to Chelsea to protect her from his brother. He thought, bitterly, that Chelsea probably knew Skye better than Vaughn did. He kept being reminded of the picture of Chelsea and Skye in Chelsea's house, how happy Skye looked, much happier than he ever did with Vaughn and his parents.

He ran a hand through his hair and sighed. After all these years he finally had a connection to his older brother. He ups never admit it, but he was hurt by the fact that Skye had never even mentioned having a brother at all. He considered this the final straw with their relationship. If Skye wasn't going to even acknowledge his brother at all than Vaughn would do the same.

* * *

Chelsea was struggling. She had only grown up seeing her parents farm, she didn't know how to do it herself. She hadn't realised how hard running a farm all on her own would be, she realised for the first time that she needed help.

She had never been good at asking for help. Her parents had always taught her how to be independent, that if she couldn't do something on her own it wasn't worth doing at all. This is why she had felt so uncomfortable accepting Mirabelle and Julia's help at first.

Although she had always had her differences with her parents she always wanted them to be proud of her. After her parents had died she had vowed to start her own farm in their memory, she hadn't anticipated how hard it would be all on her own.

She cast her mind back to her friend back home, how he was always reluctant to tell her his story. Chelsea wanted to tell Vaughn that Skye had never mentioned anything about his past, that it wasn't just him that Skye hadn't told her about. She knew that he already didn't like her as it was, clearly something had gone on with the brothers and that he wouldn't appreciate her bringing his past up.

She groaned and decided to take a break from pulling weeds from her plot of land. She sat on the floor defeated and contemplated her evening. Some of the youth of the Island were having a get-together which Julia had invited Chelsea along to and she still hadn't decided whether or not she was going to go. She wanted desperately to meet people from the Island but felt so uncomfortable being introduced to new people.

She decided to just get up and go, she needed to get to know the rest of the islanders at some point. She stood up from the ground and made her way into her house to get changed into clean clothes.

Although there may not have been that many people living on the island, they sure could be rowdy if they wanted. All the young adults of the island were gathered at the beach, with the exception of Elliot, much to Julia's dismay.

Chelsea had been introduced to everyone apart from Denny, the fisherman. Despite the fact the gathering was being held right outside his house on the beach he was still late.

"That's what we were expecting," Julia signed "He'd be late for his own funeral."

"Hey, I heard that- and I'm not dying any time soon, thank you." The man Chelsea guessed must be Denny appeared and threw his arm around Julia in a friendly. "And you must be Chelsea, it's nice to finally meet you" Denny offered his hand for Chelsea to shake.

"Denny, stop flirting" Julia scolded him.

Denny shot Julia a questioning look "That's not flirting"

"For you it is"

Denny smirked at the girls "Denny, resident fisherman, and apparently, flirt-er" he said, winking at her.

Chelsea smiled back at him politely "Chelsea. Resident farmer and awkward party guest"

"Well if you're notorious for being awkward then you're doing pretty well at hiding it, I don't think you're being awkward at all"

"Now _that's_ flirting" Julia added. Chelsea's face flushed bright red at Julia's remark. This was going to be a long night.


	7. Grass

Vaughn was once again tapping his heel against the deck of the boat waiting for it to dock. He had spent almost a week away from the island to reflect on the events of the previous six days. He was happy to have a stressful office job to help him keep his mind off of the repressed emotions but they still came to haunt him when he wasn't careful. He would have to remember to stay away from Chelsea this time, any link to Skye was bad news.

When the boat finally docked, Vaughn trudged off of it, eager to be away from all the obnoxious noise he had travelled with. As usual, Mirabelle was waiting to smother him in one of her bear hugs. And, as usual, there was no Chelsea this time.

The walk back to the shop was filled with mindless chatter from Mirabelle. She spoke of how Julia was growing closer to that Elliot boy that Mirabelle really didn't trust, she spoke of the wild dogs in the forest, but most of all- she spoke of Chelsea. How her heating was finally fixed, how adorable she was, how her and Julia were becoming such great friends.

Vaughn was infuriated when he felt a pang of jealousy rise in him. The girl had been here a little over a week, how had Mirabelle become so invested in her already? Vaughn thought of what Mirabelle said about Chelsea being like Vaughn when he was younger. He realised, bitterly, that Mirabelle was a doting mother, she had given her affections to Vaughn when he was a lost cause; and now that he was no longer a lost cause, Mirabelle had moved on to Chelsea.

This visit was not going well for Vaughn; first he was jealous of Chelsea, then he was criticising Mirabelle- who was practically his surrogate mother. Vaughn reminded himself that Mirabelle was like everybody's mother, everybody on the island turned to her in times of need. But Vaughn was special to her, not as special as Julia, but still special. She was caring for Chelsea because she was new and out of her depth, not because she was looking for somebody to replace Vaughn. Vaughn brightened up at this thought and decided to stop acting like a jealous brat. He wasn't a boy anymore- he was a man, he should be more mature than this.

When he and Mirabelle walked through the door, he was met with the usual hug from Julia, and for the second time, the sight of Chelsea standing nervously behind.

"Hi," She spoke timidly. He returned her greeting by acknowledging her with a nod in her direction.

"I'll get some tea on," Mirabelle declared, planting her hands on Chelsea's shoulders "Come help, dear."

Chelsea followed Mirabelle into the kitchen area and began pulling mugs out of the cupboards. It seemed that she knew her way around the house pretty well already.

"So, did you miss me?" Julia asked, smirking

Vaughn grunted in response a usual reaction to conversation.

"Aw, why are you being so grumpy today?" she teased, placing a hand on Vaughn's cheek. Vaughn shrugged her off and directed a glare to the floor.

"Why don't you put your things in your room." Mirabelle offered from the kitchen

Pleased to have a reason to leave the room, he nodded and made his way to the guest bedroom. He placed his bag on the floor and flopped onto the bed, sighing deeply.

He picked his hat up off of his head and closed his eyes. He wasn't feeling on top form, as much as he loved work, he really didn't feel up to it today.

A knock on the door startled him into shock; he really hoped it wasn't Mirabelle at the door. He couldn't bare to turn her away.

"Come in" he said begrudgingly.

"I need to ask you for a favour" Julia stated, entering the room tentatively. She perched herself on the end of his bed and crossed her arms, awaiting his response.

"What?" He asked, sitting up and crossing his arms.

"I think Chelsea could use a bit of help on the farm" Chelsea, of course.

Vaughn spoke without thinking "Why are you guys helping her out so much? Why not just leave her to it?"

Julia smirked "Aw, are you jealous?" She stood from her position on the end of his bed and made her way over to him "Don't worry, you're still our favourite grumpy old man." She said, pinching his cheek between her fingers.

Vaughn shrugged her off "Of course I'm not jealous," He lied "and I'm not old either." He reached into his bag and began to unpack his things.

"Well if you're not jealous of her than you'll have no problem giving her a bit of help on the farm will you?" She smiled smugly.

"Get out, Julia, I need to unpack"

* * *

He had only agreed to helping Chelsea out because Mirabelle had asked him to, and that was exactly what he told Chelsea when he turned up at her farm and she asked him why.

To her credit, she looked horrified when he told her Mirabelle had asked for help on her behalf.

"There's really no need, I've got it all covered" She tried to politely shoo him away.

"You've got it all covered? Great. So I assume I'll be seeing you in the shop later today to pick up some medicine for that sick chicken?"

Chelsea looked at him in confusion "What?" Vaughn rolled his eyes at her, she really had no idea what she was doing, did she?

"What's her name?"

"The chicken?"

Once again Vaughn rolled his eyes at her "Yes, the chicken, what's her name?"

"She doesn't have one"

Now it was his turn to look horrified. "What do you mean, she doesn't have one? How are you supposed to bond with her if you don't even give her a name?" He felt suddenly enraged at her, how was she supposed to care for animals if she couldn't even bond with them?

Chelsea threw her hands over her face and let out a pained groan "I can't do this." She sighed, she looked at if she was about to cry.

Vaughn had no idea what to do, he had never had to comfort someone before.

"Um," He said uncomfortably, Chelsea interrupted him before he could speak.

"My parents were farmers, I grew up on a farm but I still don't know what I'm doing." She began "I just wanted to make my parents proud, even if they're not here anymore."

Chelsea began to feel tears welling up at her eyes and turned away, hiding her face behind her hair. She was snapped out of her daze by a large hand awkwardly resting on her shoulder.

"Do you want to go and grab some food?"


	8. Drawing the Line

_a/n: sorry it's been so long! Life's got busy; I started school again, applying for university blah blah blah boring life stuff. Thanks for sticking around and supporting this story! It means the world to me to know that people are enjoying it 3_

* * *

He didn't know what had possessed him to help Chelsea out. _Maybe Mirabelle put some 'kinda spell on me_ he thought to himself. _Or maybe I just saw the lost kid I used to be in her_.

The two sat in the diner opposite each other. Chelsea staring into her now lukewarm cup of coffee while Vaughn was was absentmindedly stirring his milk porridge, the first meal he had eaten all day. He couldn't eat before riding on the boat, he got terrible sea sickness.

"I'm sorry for bringing up bad memories." he apologised uncomfortably. He wasn't very sure on how to go about apologising, it wasn't something he did often.

Chelsea sighed deeply into her coffee and shrugged, the remnants of her tears still staining her cheeks. "It's fine, really. I'm sorry for over-sharing," she began "I do that a lot." She chuckled lightly, trying to lighten the situation.

"No, you didn't over-share at all!" Vaughn exclaimed unexpectedly, Chelsea looked up at him surprised and grinned at him when she saw how flustered he was "I mean, uh-, it was my fault for being too harsh on you." He said after composing himself.

Chelsea chuckled humorlessly "We haven't had a great start at all, have we?"

"Listen, I'm not good at making friends but I'd feel terrible if I didn't offer you help with running the farm." He offered.

"No, really it's-"

"And by that I mean I'm going to help you on the farm, because you need it." He affirmed, stirring his porridge.

Chelsea grimaced "Wait, so you apologised for being too harsh on me but now you're criticising me again? With all due respect, make your mind up about whether or not you actually want to help me out." Chelsea said it all before she could think about it. Vaughn was stunned into silence, he didn't expect her to stand up for herself like that.

"Um-" He began, not sure of what to say.

"Yes, I need help but if you're going to keep being this condescending, you're not going anywhere near my farm." She declared. "Listen, I get it- I bring up bad memories of your brother," She said a little more softly "But it seems like you've decided from day one that I'm not worth your time, you don't even know me. I'm not Skye. Yes, he's done wrong but I didn't choose to have such a close bond with him- you don't get to choose your friends."

He thought back to how Mirabelle told him the same thing the week previously.

"So this is where we either stop this all together or draw a line under this and start all over again."

Vaughn had been trying to ignore Chelsea to the best of his ability since he had known her, so why did the thought of her giving up on him bring a strange pull inside him?

Chelsea straightened her shoulders and held her hand out to him across the table "My name's Chelsea, nice to meet you." Just as she began to pull her and away when she realised Vaughn wasn't going to play along and shake it, he weakly shook her hand and pulled away quickly.

Chelsea couldn't explain the light tingles that tickled her skin as they touched. She was sure he could have given a much stronger handshake than that but that handshake clearly wasn't meant for her yet.

"My parents were farmers, I grew up on a farm in the Valley." She began "They always wanted me to go into farming too, they were't too happy when I announced I wanted to move to the city and explore the world before I tied myself down to a job. They completely ignored me, dedicated their lives to teaching another kid in the village how to farm so he could take over."

Vaughn took her story in, it was similar to his in a way.

"They paid no attention to me at all, apart from when they were screaming at me to do something with my life. That's when I met Skye." She gave Vaughn a pointed look as she sipped her coffee. "He... he just understood what I was going through." She said, staring off into the distance. Vaughn nodded, knowing that he and Skye had been through a similar thing. "I didn't really have a lot of friends but he was so easy to talk to, and he could make me laugh like no-one else ever could. I found out he was a thief the night I met him but I didn't realise he wasn't joking until a few weeks later when the local bar was robbed. I scolded him but it was the only way he had to make a living, he was a total social outcast- no family, _that anyone knew of_ , no other friends, no job- he needed to survive." She explained.

Vaughn said nothing but kept his mouth in a straight line and nodded at her.

"So..." Chelsea trailed off. "Any life story you'd like to share?" She asked jokingly. To both of their surprise, he chuckled lightly at this.

"Not yet."

* * *

"You need to make sure you brush them everyday," Vaughn grabbed the animal brush from the barn and began to brush the cow "This will allow the animals to trust you and bond with you." He explained.

Chelsea was taking mental notes in her head, not sure why she was trying so hard to impress him.

"People underestimate just how intelligent animals are, sometimes I think they're more intelligent than humans." he stated. Vaughn felt a new sense of pride when Chelsea chuckled at this. He wasn't actually joking, but he would pretend to be to save himself from the embarrassment. "Anyway-uh, I think that's all you need to know. Is there anything else you need a hand with?" He offered.

Chelsea, leaning against the wall of the barn, shook her head. "If I need anymore help can I let you know?"

"Yeah, I guess so. If there's anything else you need let me know." He said, practically mirroring her words.

"Great." Chelsea smiled.

She stopped him as he began to walk out the door "Thank you." She said sincerely "Really, it's been a big help."

He felt his cheeks begin to burn as a blush coloured them lightly, he lowered his hat hoping Chelsea wouldn't notice; she did. "No problem." He said. He lifted his hat when he felt it was safe and gave her a small wave goodbye.

He cursed himself for his newfound nervousness around her, he had no idea why he suddenly felt so insecure.

He was pulled out of his daze by a pair of hands throwing themselves down on his shoulders. "Boo!" Denny shouted in his ear. Vaughn was used to his best-friend's antics and wasn't surprised by this greeting anymore.

"What?" He grumbled grumpily.

Denny smiled easily at Vaughn and threw his arm around him. Vaughn tried to shrug him off, not wanting to draw attention to himself. "How was your week?"

"Terrible."

"It's nice to see you so optimistic." Denny declared sarcastically. "How's the mother?"

Denny frequently referred to Mirabelle as Vaughn's mother, Vaughn didn't particularly mind this.

"I don't know, I haven't seen much of her today."

"What have you been filling your precious time with then?" Denny asked sarcastically.

Vaughn shrugged again. "Just helping some people out." He left Chelsea's name out of it, he knew that of he mentioned he was with a girl Denny would tease him relentlessly.

"Which people?"

Vaughn sighed heavily at his best friend's inquisitiveness "You know the new farmer?"

"Christy?" Denny asked scrunching his eyebrows "Kelly?"

"Chelsea." Vaughn corrected. Recognition registered on Denny's face briefly before a smirk took the look's place.

"Ah, you and Chelsea, huh?" He teased. Vaughn rolled his eyes at his friend in disdain. "You have to admit though- she's pretty cute."

"I don't know." He answered nonchalantly, head facing the dirt.

Denny stopped walking and stared at his best friend in awe "Holy macaroni, you actually like a girl."

"I do not, Mirabelle asked me to help her out- I'm doing it as a favour for her."

Denny wiggled his eyebrows "Ah, so it's Mirabelle you've got your eye on." he joked.

Vaughn grimaced "Ugh, that's disgusting."

"That's why you love me."

Vaughn lightly punched his friend in the arm "That's why I _hate_ you."


	9. Gentle

Chelsea was getting to know the villagers more and more, and the more she got to know them, the more she liked them. Julia had taken her time to ensure Chelsea met everyone and Chelsea had struck up a particular bond with Elliot, whom she found to be as socially-awkward as she was, and Natalie, who was the complete opposite of Chelsea in every single way- which made their friendship easy.

It was that time of the week again when all the younger villagers would make their way to Denny's house for one of his regular parties.

Although she knew everyone at the party, she was still feeling uncomfortable. She was never really good with large crowds of people, they made her feel overwhelmed, like she was drowning in a sea of faces-at least this time they were familiar faces.

Chelsea observed the faces around her, the one that surprised her a the most was Vaughn's, she would never expect him to be at a place like this, she had been even more shocked to find out that Vaughn and Denny were best friends. They seemed like polar opposites to her.

He sat as she would have expected him to, at the edge of the beach with his hat over his face looking like he'd rather be anywhere else. She thought of going over to talk to him but dismissed the thought quickly, she didn't want to annoy him.

He frustrated her, he was friendly one minute and closed-off the next. He angered her, the way he thought he knew better than her. But most of all he intrigued her. He was like a complex map, filled with winding country roads with stories waiting to be discovered- she just didn't know if she wanted to discover them or not.

"Chelsea!" Julia shouted from the sea. Most of the party guests had vacated to the water a little while ago, leaving just Chelsea, Vaughn, and Elliot, who didn't want to get his hair wet, still on dry land. Chelsea was sitting on the sand outside Denny's house making small talk with Elliot while Vaughn was across the beach from them watching a bird. Chelsea felt a small smile tug at her lips watching he way he acted so at peace in the bird's presence. She was reminded of how passionate he was about her bonding with her animals at the beginning of the day, maybe she had been too hard on him. After all, he was just trying to help, and Mirabelle had told her that he wasn't the best at conversing his emotions. She mused on this while Julia shouted at her to join the rest of the party go-ers in the water.

"Come on, Chelsea!" Chelsea rolled her eyes at shared a look with Elliot. "Chelsea, stop being anti-social!" Julia commanded. She sighed contentedly and lazily pushed herself up off the ground and made her way over to the dock.

She felt her footing falter and her left foot slid out from under her, a shriek barely had time to make its way out of her mouth before she fell to the floor in a heap of flailing limbs. She could feel her face going redder and redder as everyone rushed over to her to check if she was alright but even more, she could feel her leg twisted at an awkward angle. She gritted her teeth so to not make a sound as Julia helped her up, when she settled on her feet she couldn't hold it in anymore- she groaned in pain as she applied pressure to her injured leg.

Denny kneeled by her feet and gently held her ankle as Chelsea rested her weight on Julia. Denny grimaced "Oh man, that doesn't look good at all..." He fretted.

Vaughn sighed and rolled his eyes while making his was through the crowd. The crowd parted at his presence, a sharp sting passed through him as he realised he intimidated them. Shaking it off and not letting it get to him, he passed through the crowd and saw Chelsea stare up at him in surprise, her big blue eyes like a deer caught in headlights.

To everyone's surprise he kneeled down and took Denny's place by Chelsea's ankle and held it with a much gentler touch than Chelsea imagined. He appraised the injured ankle and tired to ignore the feeling of the crowd's eyes on him.

He looked up into her scared eyes and reassured her "It's just twisted, you'll need to rest it for a few days."

"Thanks," She said, shyly.

"I'll help you get home!" Denny offered instantly.

"No way, you need to be up early tomorrow, don't worry, I'll be fine." Chelsea lied. She definitely needed someone to help walk her home but didn't want to inconvenience Denny.

Before she could fret, another voice made itself heard over the noise of the party "I'll take you." Vaughn stated. Before Chelsea could interject, Julia grabbed Chelsea's arm and swung it over Vaughn's shoulder so he could take some of her weight.

Vaughn looked down at her, instead of his usual cold glare, his eye looks almost playful.

"Come on." He pulled her arm tighter around him and set off.

* * *

 _a/n Happy new year! Hope you all had a great festive period, whether you celebrated or not! Sorry for the long break between chapters, not that this is relevant to anybody's life but I applied to university so things have been pretty hectic around there. Thanks for being patient, hope you guys enjoyed this chapter._


	10. The Warm Glow

Chelsea could feel her face burning red each time she took a step, or more like, each time Vaughn took a step as she was currently resting her weight on him. He didn't seem to mind at all, in fact, he didn't even seem to notice. She was half-considering that he may have forgotten that she was even there at all except the quick glances he kept stealing at her.

He would look at her for a second or two, like he was trying not to but couldn't help himself.

Vaughn could pretty much feel Chelsea's heart beating out of her chest, _why is she so scared of me?_ He thought to himself. He tried not to think about the fact that he had totally alienated her, but couldn't help it. He alienated people, he didn't get close, that was who he was. Yet he was still bothered that Chelsea didn't trust him.

They finally made it back to Chelsea's house. Chelsea gently untangled herself from Vaughn while he stood there awkwardly waiting for her too get in. As soon as she was freed from his grip she lost her balance again and almost slipped, if it wasn't for a pair of strong arms catching her before she could fall.

Vaughn quickly grabbed Chelsea in alarm and steadied her before she could fall. He gripped her hips with her hands before he could realise what he was doing.

"Uh-" he began, not being able to take his eyes off of his hands on her body. "Are you ok?"

"Yeah, sorry, I just didn't expect the weight. Thanks." He quickly dropped his hands.

"Are you okay now?" Chelsea noticed with a small grin that he was blushing.

"Yeah, thanks." She mailed politely and grabbed her house keys from her pocket. She quickly shoved the keys into the lock and tried to push the front door open. "Um," she gestured to the door "It gets stuck, I usually have to throw my weight against the door to get it open, can you..." She trailed off.

Vaughn nodded quickly and approached the door. He he pushed himself up against the door a few times before it swung open. The door opening caught him unexpectedly and he lost his footing slightly. Chelsea managed to catch him by the hips before he fell. "We're even now." Chelsea joked, before letting her hands fall when she was sure he had his footing back.

She was stronger than he thought she would be. He was embarrassed by almost falling over in front of her, so quickly brushed himself off and tried to act like it hadn't happened.

Chelsea made her way into the kitchen quickly and left Vaughn in the doorway, unsure of what to do. He quietly shut the door behind him and sat down on Chelsea's sofa.

"This is a nice place, it's...cosy,"

"Yeah it's tiny," Chelsea chuckled "but it's home."

"Oh no I didn't mean anything bad by it, it's nice." He began, scratching the back of his neck, "Mirabelle's place is always full of people, my bedroom there is the only place I can ever get privacy. And my place in the city is way too big for just me."

"What's it like in the city?" She asked, bringing the drinks over to the coffee table and sitting down.

Vaughn found himself lost for words, this was probably the most he'd spoken to anyone who wasn't Mirabelle or Julia in, well...since he could remember. "It's busy, much busier than this place."

"Most places are," Chelsea interjected, jokingly.

"Yeah, I guess," He chuckled nervously.

"I've always wanted to visit the city..." Chelsea sighed wistfully.

Vaughn was taken aback "What, you're not from the city? I know you said you lived on a farm but I assumed you weren't raised on one."

Chelsea smiled and rolled her eyes. "I know I come across like a city girl but, believe it or not, I was raised on farms." She admitted "I guess I never really paid much attention to what my parents were doing on the farm. I arrived here and the farm was practically forced upon me once Taro found out I was raised in farming. I guess I just wanted to make something out of my parent's memory- instead of finding an office job in the city I wanted to do something they loved, make them proud." She said longingly. Vaughn noticed the look in her eyes when she spoke of her parents, she gazed into the distance as if she was looking for something but couldn't quite find it. He could tell that she really wanted to make something of the farm, and he decided that he would help her. He tried to convince himself that it was because he wanted to see the farm prosper, and not because he wanted to see Chelsea succeed and be proud of herself.

Chelsea broke out of her daze "Sorry," She apologised, shaking her head. "I'm boring you, I go on like that sometimes- ignore me."

"No, no it's fine." Vaughn assured her, flustered. "Really, go on all you want, it's fine." He said uncertainly.

"Thank you," She said sincerely, "Not many people want to listen."

Silence was thick in the air. Not the deafening silence that hangs in the air and suffocates, a comfortable silence. Vaughn couldn't recall another person since his brother that he has been able to sit in comfortable silence with. Everyone else was so demanding for conversation, there was so mush pressure to be social and impress. It was refreshing to find someone who didn't exhaust him.

Surprisingly, it was him that spoke first. "I'm sorry for snapping at you like that the other day."

Chelsea was taken aback slightly, not expecting him to even want to continue the conversation, let alone apologise to her.

"It's fine, really. I'm sorry for being useless..." She trailed off, only half-joking.

"No, you weren't. You were trying your best, I was just being an ass."

"I won't argue with you on that one." She stated with a smirk. As soon as she said it she was worried that he would take it the wrong way and they would be back where they started. To Chelsea's surprise, Vaughn actually shot her a small smile and nodded his head in agreement.

The conversation faded away naturally through the minutes. Both sat in perfect comfortable silence, enjoying the presence of another human being too much to disturb the moment.

Vaughn found himself half-gazing at the girl opposite him on the sofa. Now that he looked at her properly, she seemed different. Her pale skin looked alive in the warm, yellow glow cast from the lamps in the house, her blue eyes dancing in the moment. For the first time, he saw her with new eyes and a fresh perspective.

And he decided in that moment that if someone had to take his place in Mirabelle and Julia's family, he was happy it was her.

* * *

 _A/N how are you guys doing? I hope you like this chapter, it was one I really enjoyed writing. I really want to start updating more frequently but, as you're probably tired of hearing from me, school is killing me right now. I got accepted into university though! Just gotta get the grades to get my place now..._

 _Anyway, hope you're all doing well._


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